1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a device to assist in blood sampling or drawing blood from a patient's arm.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art has provided a variety of devices to restrain a patient's arm for use by doctors and hospitals. Typical devices are temporary arm splints for holding a broken arm in place. Other arm restraints which are commercially available are used for intravenous feeding, however, most hospitals presently use a padded styrofoam board or the like for intravenous feeding and simply dispose of the padded board when it is no longer needed by the patient. A number of non-disposable arm boards for intravenous feeding are disclosed in the prior art. One such device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,330 to Bansal which issued in 1977.
Another type of restraining device disclosed for intravenous feeding is U.S. Pat. No. 3,256,880 to Caypinac issued in 1966.
Still another device is U.S. Pat. No. 3,776,225 to Lonardo who disclosed an arm splint which may be used for intravenous feedings. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,456 to Waxman disclosed an extremity support for intravenous feeding. All of these devices, however, have as their primary object, means for intravenous feeding. It is well known that an intravenous feeding device is a long term restraining device that will maintain the arm immobile. It is also well known that intravenous feeding is an extremely slow and time consuming process and therefore the object of most of the devices described herein is to maintain a patient's arm immobilized during intravenous treatment with the least amount of discomfort and trauma to the patient. However, a visit to any acute hospital will reveal that none of the prior art has had any commercial success.
In the present invention the arm restraint is developed specifically for blood drawing and/or blood sampling and is not intended to be used for a long term intravenous feeding device. The parts of the arm restraint are designed to be quickly attached and adjusted and the arm restraint will find its greatest use when a delirious patient, an uncooperative patient or a uncooperative child must have blood drawn quickly for typing and the like. The present invention will also find use in today's hospitals where at times during a 24 hours shift a specialist must work all alone with a patient who is critically ill yet will not cooperate in the drawing of blood. Due to the unique design of the present invention, either venous or arterial blood may be drawn quickly and safely from the patient's arm.